Investigation of blood donors' nutritional habits before and after blood donation.

Introduction: The reason why people engage in the noble act of blood donation shows their level of awareness towards the society as a whole. What is not known is that a balanced diet and an adequate hydration before donating blood can make the procedure more pleasant and significantly reduce any adverse reactions such as sweating, dizziness, loss of consciousness. Aim: The purpose of this research study is to investigate the knowledge and attitude of blood donors on nutrition before and after the blood donation process. Material and Methods: The present study was carried out by the staff of the Blood Donation of the University General Hospital "ATTIKON" and the cross-sectional study method with convenience sampling and the use of a questionnaire was chosen. The study population consisted of 290 blood donors. Results: The study involved 290 people, 184 men (63.4%) and 106 women (36.6%) who came to the blood donation site to donate blood. The 31.0% of the sample were blood donors in the last 1-3 years and 21.7% were first-time blood donors. In the first place the reason why the participants gave blood was volunteering (44.5%) and the second was the need for blood from a patient in their family (42.8%). A drop was observed in blood pressure values and in some cases there was a significant correlation with whether they had eaten before the blood donation procedure. Discussion: Overall, knowledge about blood donation (before and after) was insufficient. Research results show that the fear of unwanted side effects from donating blood such as dizziness, fainting, etc. are inhibiting factors for someone to come forward for voluntary blood donation and if they do, it is after a call for blood for someone close to them. Conclusions: With the questionnaire used as a research tool, the knowledge and the nutritional behavior of the blood donors when they were going to come for blood donation and its results were examined.

Keywords: dietary habits, nutrition, blood donors, blood donation